Roberts’ first public demonstrations were in the United States beginning in 1986. They were limited to two or three public demonstrations per year. It was April of 1989 when he met Her Majesty, the Queen. At the conclusion of one week’s work at Windsor Castle, Her Majesty arranged for 21 cities and 98 horses that were added to the 23 horses Roberts worked with at Windsor in a five-day period of time. The total on the trip was 121 horses.

In 2017, Lead-Up International will officially launch in Solvang, California, at Flag Is Up Farms during the week of February 13. Lead-Up International, partner of Monty Roberts’ Join-Up International, recently announced that the journal ‘Human Animal Interaction Bulletin’ has published a report by Dr. Judith Gibbons and team with scientific evidence of reduced violence and abuse toward horses and people through the Lead-Up Program. Lead-Up International is an original and compelling Leadership Program that aims to create peaceful leaders through workshops with horses.

The Lead-Up program is based around workshops with horses in which participants are introduced to humane ways of handling and interacting with horses. Participants discover non-violence and non-aggression for themselves through interactions with horses and principally through the experience of Join-Up® with a horse, the non-violent training system designed by Monty Roberts author of The Man Who Listens to Horses. Convinced there must be a more humane and effective system to train horses Monty created Join-Up, a consistent set of principles based on the horse’s inherent body language and herd-behavior. The result of Join-Up is a willing partnership based on mutual respect and trust.Roberts has been recognized by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II who acknowledged his work by honoring him with the Royal Victorian Order and who is also Patron of Join-Up International, the 501 c 3 non-profit formed to educate people in these concepts. The Queen has also recognized Catherine Cunningham, Founder of Lead-Up International for her efforts to reduce violence in Guatemala. Queen Elizabeth is following the development of this program for the humane treatment of animals and trust based relationships with humans.

“The Lead-Up Program helps participants learn how to improve their self-awareness and regulate their body language and emotions through specialized interactions with horses and specifically through the embodied experience of Join-Up. Participants intrinsically learn that violence is not necessary and that they can be powerful yet peaceful leaders through self-awareness and better control of body language and emotions,” said Katie Cunningham, Founder, lifelong horsewoman and promoter of equine and human welfare.

The Lead-Up team has been developing the program since 2012 and has partnered with global organizations and local NGOs in Guatemala who have expressed the growing need to reduce violence in the communities they serve. Their team is international and varied in their talents but have in common the desire to take these groundbreaking methods to the world.

February 10-12, the Horse Sense and Healing program of Join-Up International will be again providing an experiential clinic for Veterans and First Responders exposed to traumatic stress. Join-Up International is a California non-profit organization (tax ID 77-0459889) founded by world-renowned horse trainer Monty Roberts. Join-Up is dedicated to promoting gentle, effective alternatives to violence and force in both equine and human relationships. Roberts’ unique and gentle method of using the horse’s own language to achieve breakthrough results is revolutionary, but not magical. Communication is a gift all have and it can be practiced and developed.

“My goal is to leave the world a better place than I found it for horses and for people, too.”—Monty Roberts

Join-Up International seeks to foster the adoption of skills among a greater audience, insuring their preservation for generations to come. Join-Up concepts have helped abused women and children, and their abusers, too, as well as special needs children, youth at risk, prison inmates, foster families, children and adults with a history of abuse and war veterans.

Lead-Up International is seeking Founding Members to help launch a broader campaign to share these workshops with more organizations, people and horses. For more information about the program or to schedule a presentation, write to katie@join-up.org

A paper titled “Monty Roberts’ public demonstrations: Preliminary report on the heart rate and heart rate variability of horses undergoing training during live audience events” has been accepted for publication in the international journal “Animals.”

“Animals” is an international and interdisciplinary scholarly open access journal concerned with publishing high quality scientific papers within the field of ‘animals’, including zoology, ethnozoology, animal science, animal ethics and animal welfare. In particular, this journal showcases scientific study describing animals’ interactions with the outside world, including humans. “Animals” is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and takes the responsibility to enforce a rigorous peer-review together with strict ethical policies and standards to ensure the addition of high quality scientific works to the field of scholarly publication.

This new paper describes the opportunistic collection and analysis of heart rate (HR; beat-to-beat intervals) and heart rate variability (HRV) of 10 horses being trained during Monty Roberts’ public demonstrations within the United Kingdom and is authored by Loni Loftus, Kelly Marks, Rosie Jones-McVey, Jose L. Gonzales and Dr. Veronica L. Fowler (lead author).

Key findings from the study include:

• Stress responses recorded in this study were comparable (e.g. when compared to horses undergoing foundation training) or more favorable (e.g. when compared to novel object tests, handling tests or horses anticipating competition) to previously reported studies in the literature.

• Stress responses during public demonstrations were proportional to low-moderate exercise intensities described in other training methods where horses were under similar levels of physiological stress as reported in literature.

• The stress responses during a specific training method known as “Join-Up®” were comparable to other methods of training used by Monty Roberts during public demonstrations, and were consistent with exercise intensity (physiological stress). There was no evidence that Join-Up® altered HR and HRV in a way to suggest that this training method presents the horse with psychological or physical stressors which would negatively affect welfare.

• There was preliminary evidence that training undertaken in a roundpen, including Join-Up® controls or inhibits the flight response (limits the fear response).

In conclusion, training of horses during public demonstrations is a mild stressor for horses. However the stress responses observed within this study were comparable or less to those previously reported in the literature for horses being trained outside of public audience events and was indicative of exercise at low-moderate intensity (physiological stress), rather than psychological stress.

On Cyber Monday, November 30, the Horse Radio Network will give away over $3,000 in prizes, live on the HRN Holiday Radiothon, the Network’s first annual Holiday Radiothon to air on “Cyber Monday.” The premiere streaming event, sponsored by WeatherBeeta, runs from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm (ET), and features over $3,000 in prize giveaways to listeners.

Don’t miss the 1pm Eastern time hour when Horsemanship Radio’s segment of the Radiothon will air the interview with Bob Baffert who trained four Kentucky Derby winners, six Preakness Stakes winners, and two each Belmont Stakes and Kentucky Oaks winners. This year, Bob and American Pharoah won the 141st Kentucky Derby, bringing his total number of victories in the Derby to four. American Pharoah is one of the leading contenders for Sports Illustrated’s 2015 Sportsman of the Year because there was no other display of sportsmanship in 2015 that came close to what owner Ahmed Zayat and Bob Baffert did with American Pharoah. You can vote here: http://www.si.com/sportsmanofyear/2015/11/10/vote-si-sportsman-poll

Throughout the show, prizes will be given away every hour, with a grand prize announced at the end of the show. Listeners can enter to win prizes in one of two ways: log on to the HRN Holiday Radiothon website before November 27, 2015 and leave a message on the Horseloverz.com Voicemail with a holiday message of your choice. http://radiothon.horseradionetwork.com/category/leave-holiday-voicemail/ or call in to the live show between 9 am and 9 pm eastern time, and tell us about your favorite holiday memory

(435) 272-1997.

Charlotte Bredahl-Baker is a well-known trainer and FEI judge who was born and raised in Denmark before moving to the United States at the age of 22. She has an impressive list of accolades, including a team bronze medal from the 1992 Olympic Games with Monsieur and a Team Silver medal from the 1997 North American Championship with Lugano. Additionally Charlotte is the Assistant Dressage Youth Coach to the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF). http://bredahldressage.com/charlotte.html

Monty Roberts first gained widespread fame with the release of his 1996 New York Times Best Selling book, The Man Who Listens To Horses; a chronicle of his life and development of his non-violent horse training methods called Join-Up®. Monty grew up on a working horse farm as a firsthand witness to traditional, often violent methods of horse training and breaking the spirit with an abusive hand. Rejecting that, he went on to win nine world’s championships in the show ring. Today, Monty’s goal is to share his message that “Violence is never the answer.” Roberts has been encouraged by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with the award of the Membership in The Royal Victorian Order, as well as becoming Patron of Join-Up International. Other honors received were the ASPCA “Founders” award and the MSPCA George T. Angell Humanitarian Award. Monty is credited with launching the first of its kind Equus Online University; an interactive online lesson site that is the definitive learning tool for violence-free training. www.MontyRobertsUniversity.com/library

Fall 2014: Monty demonstrated his work to the public in the UK and in Germany! Go to Monty’s Calendar to get more information and reserve your tickets to a public demonstration! And keep up with Monty’s activities and plans on his Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/MontyRoberts

Posted in Announcements | Comments Off on Monty’s Tour in the UK and Germany

Monty was invited to India as a guest of The Brooke (http://thebrooke.org/), an animal welfare organization dedicated to improving the lives of working horses, donkeys and mules in some of the world’s poorest communities globally. Go to Monty’s Facebook page for updates on this journey we share to leave the world a better place than we found it, for horses and for people, too.

Monty was on the road with the good news from the Horse Sense and Healing program at Flag Is Up Farms. Monty’s recent roadtrip started in Illinois at the Bravehearts conference for veterans, the following weekend he flew to Washington DC for interviews and meetings with the Humane Society and Vanity Fair. On to New Yorkto be on Fox and Friends on Saturday morning with veteran Alicia Watkins.

Click here to learn about Monty’s nonprofit, Join-Up International, and Monty’s work with veterans: www.join-up.org